A timeline (complete with photos!) of corset history:
2000 BC - Painting of a Creatian woman wearing a corset as an outer garment.
15th Century - The Cottee corset becomes popular. The Cottee was a tight, long bodice worn under clothing.
16th Century - Elizabethan fashion begins using whaleboning and added a Busk to the corset. Busks were often ornate and made of wood, horn, ivory, metal or whale bone and were often viewed as a prize for suitors. The Busk was slipped into the corset and held tight with the lace of the garment.
Late 16th Century - Corsets stared to be laced in the front, with boning being in the sides and back.
18th Century - Corsets fall out of style and are replaced by softer, less restrictive tops.
19th Century - Demand was for corsets that weren't as restricting or painful to wear. This became the era of the Victorian corset, which helped create an hourglass shape.
Early 20th Century - The Edwardian corset emerges. This corset creates an S-bend by forcing hips back and bust forward. It was often enhanced by the bustle popular during this time frame as well.
Post WW1 - Metal stays in corsets are replaced by elastic/mold-able rubber and become more flexible. Typical corsets were also replaced by girdles, which just helped hold in the tummy and add slimming features.
1950s - 1980s - Corsets began to have a new life again and were often used as undergarments.
1990s - Present - In the 1990s it became popular to wear corsets again as outer garments and a return to the flashy, lace-driven days of the Victorian corsets re-emerged.
**Due to size issues with the photos I was not able to upload photos for each era, my apologies.
*Many thanks to The Antique Corset Gallery for most of the photos I used in this posting!
